PIERCE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A woman is dead after crashing into a home in Pierce Township early Tuesday morning, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
After the crash, the vehicle and the home caught fire. The driver, 44-year-old Vicki Ruth Zieger Pollitt, of Amelia, died at the scene. Officials did not announce whether she died in the initial crash, or as a result of the subsequent fire.
The crash happened just before 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning near the intersection of White Oak Road and Merwin 10 Mile Road.
Pierce Township Fire Chief Craig Wright said the driver of the SUV likely went off the road and traveled several hundred yards before crashing into the corner of the house. When fire crews arrived, both the car and the house were in flames. Crews worked for more than three hours to extinguish the flames.
Wright said two people were inside the home at the time of the crash. Neither was injured and they were able to call 911.
Sheila Jacobs, who grew up inside the home and whose brother lives there now, said traffic in the area has gotten busier.
“When mom and dad first moved here, there was one car an hour go by,” she said. “It was just a country road.”
The crash is about a mile and a half away from another deadly crash last week. A Mason mother of five was killed on Nov. 8 when she crashed her car into a yard off Gaskins Rd.
“Those specific roads, White Oak and Gaskins, since I've been here, just nearly five years, we've never handled a fatal crash there,” said Lt. Robert Hayslip, Ohio State Highway Patrol Batavia post commander. “Both of these are kind of residential areas.”
Lt. Hayslip says OSHP will look into ways to make roads safer.
“Our job is to look at it and see if there's anything we can do to to help if we need to, you know, increase patrols in that area,” he said.
Lt. Hayslip urged residents to communicate with Ohio State Highway Patrol and their local police departments if they notice patterns of unsafe driving.
